Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.04.2019, Síða 4

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4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • April 1 2019
The government of
the Faroe Islands
announced that the
North Atlantic archipelago
will be closed for maintenance
on the last weekend of April
this year. That’s right – closed.
If you were planning to visit
that weekend, you’ll need
to consider stopping at the
Orkneys or the Shetlands
instead.
In some ways, the Faroe
Islands are like a miniature
version of Iceland. The
Faroese language is more
similar to Icelandic than
any other. The villages and
landscape are reminiscent of
those in Iceland. The people
are more socially conservative
than the Icelanders, but they’re
friendly and welcoming. At
least that’s what I’ve been
told. I’ve never been to the
Faroe Islands myself, although
it’s on my bucket list.
Among the many things
that Iceland and the Faroe
Islands share has been an
explosion in tourism in recent
years. The Faroes have been
overrun by visitors, which is
putting great pressure on its
green space. And that’s why
the country is closing for
maintenance.
Well, they’re not closing
altogether. The Faroese
tourism website says they’ll
be “closed for maintenance,
open for voluntourism.” So
while the various tourist sites
and attractions will be closed,
planes will still be flying there
and the hotels and restaurants
will remain open. But if you
plan to see the sights that
weekend, you’re going to have
to work for it.
The idea is that
voluntourists will help
maintain and enhance the
infrastructure at tourist
sites so that future visitors
to the Faroes can enjoy
the islands’ natural beauty
without harming their delicate
environmental balance. The
Faroese estimated that they
needed about 100 people to
help with this effort – but
thousands applied. So if you
were thinking you’d like to
help, you’re already too late.
Maybe next year.
As many as ten
maintenance projects are
planned for the weekend,
six of which have already
been confirmed. The various
projects involve creating
or maintaining pathways,
installing benches and
signage, and restoring cairns.
In other words, yardwork.
Like an Elderhostel
tour, the projects have been
planned to have different
levels of difficulty – that way,
the voluntourists need not
all be skilled carpenters or
stonemasons. Even if they’ve
never handled a hammer or a
saw, a shovel or a wheelbarrow,
there will be something that
everyone can do in order to
make themselves useful.
As Guðrið Højgaard,
director of Visit Faroe
Islands, told CNN: “We
welcome visitors to the
islands each year, but we
also have a responsibility to
our community and to our
beautiful environment, and
our aim is to preserve and
protect the islands, ensuring
sustainable and responsible
growth.”
Responsible tourism. I
like it. Wherever we travel,
let us be responsible tourists,
caring for the places we visit
– the environment, the people,
and the local culture. And, if
we ever have the opportunity,
let us pitch in at least once as
voluntourists, even if it’s close
to home. The Faroe Islands
hope that their initiative will
inspire other places to do the
same. I hope so, too.
Some typographical errors
are worse than others.
The print edition of the
last issue included a caption
that incorrectly identified
Guðmundur Guðmundsson
skólaskáld as “skólaskálk.”
(Fortunately, we caught it
in time to correct the digital
edition.)
What difference can one
letter make? A lot, as it turns
out.
The Icelandic word skáld
means poet, of course, and
calling an Icelander a poet is
one of the most flattering things
you might say. By contrast, the
word skálkur refers to a villain,
rogue, rascal, or sinful person.
So you can see the problem.
Guðmundur Guðmundsson was
a skáld of highest honour, but
he was certainly no skálkur by
any stretch of the imagination.
I take some comfort in the
fact that Íslenzkar Æviskrár,
the definitive biographical
dictionary of historical
Icelanders, incorrectly
identified the names of both of
Guðmundur’s parents, which
is surely a much graver sin
than getting a single letter of a
nickname wrong, no matter how
badly it changes the meaning of
the nickname. The names of
our ancestors are sacred.
On a positive note, this
unfortunate error allows
me to say a bit more about
Guðmundur skólaskáld, which
I omitted from my article.
And it serves to reinforce
Guðmundur’s reputation as
a virtuous man. During his
years at the Learned School
in Reykjavík, he developed a
reputation for being a sensitive
and deeply religious man. After
leaving school, his religious
views liberalized but he
remained interested in spiritual
matters. He identified himself as
a Unitarian in the 1910 Census
of Iceland, although he became
a member of the Theosophical
Society sometime thereafter.
An active Good Templar, he
served on the board of the
IOGT in Iceland from 1913
until his death, including two
years as chair.
In the end, nothing can
detract from the fact that
Guðmundur skólaskáld was
one of the last century’s finest
Icelandic poets.
– Stefan Jonasson
Stefan’s Saga
Stefan Jonasson
Editor
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Further to our article
“Glaumbær, the other
side of the Vinland
story,” on the back page
of the March 15 issue, we
received a note from Sunna
Olafson Furstenau, president
of Icelandic Roots. Sunna
wrote: “I loved your article
on Glaumbær, Þorfinnur, and
Guðríður but there are four
statues. One is at the Vatican.”
Our article reported on three
of the statues – at Glaumbær,
Laugarbrekka, and Ottawa –
but omitted mention of the
fourth one at the Vatican.
Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir,
commonly called Guðríður the
far-travelled, is said to have
made a pilgrimage to Rome
before retiring to Glaumbær.
Considering that she travelled
to Vinland in the west and
Rome in the south of Europe,
she was surely the most widely
travelled person of her day.
In 2011, nearly 1,000 years
after her journey to Rome,
President of Iceland Ólafur
Ragnar Grímsson presented
Pope Benedikt XVI with one
of the four casts of Ásmundur
Sveinsson’s iconic statue of
Guðríður and her son, Snorri,
and the statue is now housed at
the Vatican.
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Monday April 1
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MAY 1, ISSUE 09
Monday April 8
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Friday April 12
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FINAL ADVERTISING DEADLINE
Monday April 15
Guðríður and Snorri at the Vatican
Correction – Guðmundur was a virtuous skáld
Greetings from
Gordon J. Reykdal
Honorary Consul of the
Republic of Iceland
Suite #10250 – 176 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5S 1L2
Cell: 780.497.1480
E-mail: gjreykdal@gmail.com